Parent Reading Tips

Parent Tips for Success

Mrs. Olinger is our new reading coach. She will be meeting with students this year to help them develop their reading skills. She will also be working the the teachers to help them with their reading instruction. We are very excited to have her in this position. She will be sharing ideas and tips with us this year. We look forward to us sharing these ideas with you!

Bench marks

These are the benchmarks for Dibels that we are aiming for (words per minute read).  Please help us by reading every night with your child and practice timing them. 

                        beginning of the year              mid year                          end of the year

1                                                24                                          50                                              50

2                                                53                                          68                                              94                 

3                                                77                                          92                                              110

4                                                97                                          105                                            118

5                                                104                                        115                                            124

1. BE ROLE MODELS: Your kids should see you reading, working through problems, learning from the mistakes you made.

2. DON'T JUMP AHEAD: Preschool isn't high school; the emphasis should be on play. Elementary school isn't college; too much time on homework can be counterproductive.

3. KEEP ON READING: Bring on the books when they are babies and don't stop--even when they're excellent readers themselves

4. BE INVOLVED: Know what's going on in the school and in the classroom--support it, enrich it. But don't do you kids' work for them!

5. APPLAUD THE EFFORT: Parents need to praise hard work and persistence--not just outcomes. make praise specific; don't just offer generic esteem boosting.

6. ALLOW MISTAKES: Errors are learning opportunities and can be good practice for dealing with life's setbacks.

7. RESPECT THEIR STYLE: While educators advise a quiet homework spot without distractions, some kids work better with background noise. Let them do it their way-- unless their work suffers.

8. DON'T FORGET MORALS: A strong ethical framework, religious or otherwise, will help kids resist the ever present siren call of negative peer pressure.

How to help your child become a great Reader:

Tips for parents when your child is reading orally to you:

. If your child makes a mistake and his reading continues without a pause, ignore it.

. If your child is stuck on a word, wait 5 seconds and give him a clue. If he's stuck , wait 5 more seconds, then give him the word.

. If your child makes a mistake and hesitates, wait 5 seconds, then ask if what he reads makes sense. If not, suggest looking at the problem words. If there's still no progress, give the child the word.

Research shows that if you read with your child that their reading scores go up and it also directly affects their SAT scores. Anderson R. Wilson and Fielding (1985)

1. SCOUT FOR THINGS YOUR CHILD MIGHT LIKE TO READ. USE THEIR INTERESTS AND HOBBIES AS A STARTING POINT

2. LEAVE ALL SORTS OF READING MATERIAL, INCLUDING BOOKS, IN CONSPICUOUS PLACES AROUND THE HOUSE

3. NOTICE WHAT ATTRACTS YOUR CHILDREN'S ATTENTION,EVEN IF THEY ONLY LOOK AT PICTURES.

4. PLAY GAMES THAT ARE READING RELATED.

5. ENCOURAGE OLDER CHILDREN TO READ TO THEIR YOUNGER BROTHERS OR SISTERS. ( MORE GOOD THINGS TO COME!)

6. Talk about books together.

Tips for Choosing a book

1. Too Easy. Ask your child to select a book and read. If two or three pages can be read without mistakes, ask your child to find a more difficult book or use it for independent reading.

2. Too Hard. If your child makes three mistakes or more per page , it may be too difficult and frustrating. HOWEVER if the story and ideas seem very interesting to him/her then consider letting this be a book that you buddy read or read to them.

3. Just Right. Ask your child to read silently for several pages them ask them to explain the book to you. monitor their comprehension.

Improving Understanding

4. Reading for understanding. Children may be able to read the words, but often do not understand what the words mean. If difficult words are used explain their meaning.

5. Improve reading Understanding. Watching television and talking over the plot or talking about advertising, bill boards and signs as you are driving down the street are ways of improving your child's reading comprehension.

6. Reading for a purpose. There needs to be a reason for reading that is child centered. Reading directions for model cars, airplanes, boats, doll houses, etc. recipes, "how-to" books, or repair manuals needs to go beyond just reading. your child must interpret what is read and then experience the results.

7. Develop speaking skills. Speaking in complete sentences to express ideas in a logical order is important too. Helping your child organize spoken ideas also helps him/her learn to read and write. Most children learn to tell others their ideas before they can read.

Reading comprehension strategies

1 Making connections. When you read the text does it remind you of anything you know abut, experiences you had, other books, or world events. in your mind?

2. Questioning- ask yourself questions. What did you wonder about while you were reading? What questions did you have? Were you able to find the answers?

3. Visualizing- making pictures in your mind. When you are reading, what pictures or movies are in your mind?

4. Inferring- read between the lines. Can you predict what is about to happen? can you identify something in the book that helped you make the prediction? what were the clues.

5. Determining importance in text- what's important and what's not. Are there some parts of the story that are more important than others? Which ones? why do you think they are important?

6. Summarizing/ synthesizing - retelling the story. Think of all the parts and put them together. If you were to tell another person about the story and you could only use a few sentences, what would you say?

7. Fix up as you Read- when reading, if you are not understanding or it is not making sense then:

Reread the sentence or passage

Read ahead for clarification

Adjust your reading rate, slow down

Read out loud

Check the illustrations.

• Starfall - This has books, games, puzzles, stories, and worksheets that can be downloaded for your child.
• Find a poet- Browse this site for poets and their works.
• Guided Reading- What is it and how to do it.
• Reading Lady - A reading resource for children.
• Scholastic - Lesson plans, activities by Scholastic.
• Reading Rockets- Ideas to Launch young readers.

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